#also tried something new w the outline

[thevoiceofdesertbluffs]

Elijah + Elijah Jr. !!

The real life Elijah Jr. !!

[lottiesnotebook]

2024 Writing Roundup!

So in retrospect this is a WILD thing to post on NYE, but thank you to @miladydewintcr for tagging me by proxy! I can't take full credit for a lot of these words, as I cowrite all my Dragon Age fic with @adainesjacket, so this is kind of a collective wordcount for both of us...

words posted: 75,300

additional words written: 228,259 (Mostly on The Kick Inside, which is now 135,000 words long and STILL NOT DONE DX)

grand total of words: 303,559

fandoms: Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dimension 20 (A Court of Fae and Flowers), Grishaverse (so actually my most varied year in terms of fandom so far!)

highest kudos: what stays and what fades away, with an unbelievable 363 kudos??? I still can't believe that my little Grishaverse fic I intended to be 3 chapters long ended up being my most-read fic ever. I technically started this last year, but due to Life Happening, I didn't get round to finishing it until April this year.

Anyway, I'm really proud of this particular canon rewrite of the Shadow and Bone trilogy focussing on childhood friends Genya and Nikolai, and I'm crossing my fingers that this year, I'll get the Wedding Sequel finished and posted to celebrate it as it deserves...

highest hit oneshot: I have not really gone in for oneshots this year, so the season of possible miracles wins this category by default with 206 hits - my Dimension 20 Exchange gift for @justiceforprincecorrick. It ended up running a little later than I wanted it to, but I reread it as preparation for this year's exchange, and I think it holds up as a cute, winter-themed Cinderella AU for Binx and Andhera from Dimension 20's A Court of Fae and Flowers.

new things I tried: Dragon Age fic, writing outlines, and writing fight (and smut) scenes that should be posted in the new year!

fic I spent the most time on: The Kick Inside, or my Dragon Age Origins Rapunzel AU, as it was originally titled in my heart, has been a labour of love since August, and I've finally started posting it weekly. Please give it a read if you enjoy Dragon Age at all - it's an alternate universe where a pregnant Warden recruit provides Morrigan with an alternative to the Dark Ritual, and the ripples this causes in the world.

fic I spent the least time on: merry solstice (please don't call), cowritten with my beautiful wife @adainesjacket, at least proportionally - the Dragon Age 2 Justice/Anders/Hawke Christmas RomCom AU that nobody asked for but people have been very kind about! We wrote this in a single month and it came out so perfect that I just want to write it all over again.

favorite thing I wrote: The Kick Inside is still my beautiful, terrible baby and I am actively afraid of not finishing it because it's been eating my brain for five months.

favorite thing(s) I read:

Top of the list has got to be the His Delicious Materials series by @elodieunderglass, the best Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon fics and possibly the best fics I've ever read. I squeak audibly whenever they update, and read them aloud whenever given the opportunity. The narrative voices range from Tamsyn Muir (Nona the Ninth) to Terry Pratchett, and they are truly a joy to read if you enjoy fantasy worldbuilding, Daemon AUs, or simply to feel Joy and Hope in this Cruel, Dark World.

I've also really enjoyed Something Lonesome and Wild, by passing_lives, a BG3 fic my wife recommended when I started writing The Kick Inside that's provided a key inspiration in terms of the hazards of Adventuring While Pregnant. This is an Astarion/Gale fic and it managed to charm me despite not particularly vibing with either of the boys when I started playing, so now, in my heart, this fic is happening in the background of my playthrough while my disaster of a Dark Urge commits atrocities. Beautifully written and incredibly compelling, give it a look!

Finally, in terms of Dragon Age fic, I haven't played Veilguard so I have to be careful about what I read, but I've been slowly making my way through:

Will-O'-The-Wisp, by lovenug, an Emmrich/Rook fic from Mannfred's perspective (perfect, as I love a non-human narrator)

where the heart is by ghostbunny and PhantomsLost, a truly delightful Hawke/Anders Stardew Valley AU, which I did not realise I needed until I started reading it this Christmas

writing goals for 2025: Finishing The Kick Inside! Also, ideally, finishing that Ketterdam Wedding Sequel and Daughter Phoenix Rise (a Dragon Age 2/Inquisition take I don't think anyone has done before...)

new works: Just the four listed here, plus a few snippets that are going up in the new year... :3

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highest hit oneshot:

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fic I spent the least time on:

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new works:

[kirisslut]

—I Can Treat You So Much Better w/ Eijirou Kirishima

—Cw: bestfriend!kirishima, cheating, phone sex, facetime sex, masturbation, toxic!partner, UNEDITED

—Summary: your partnet is toxic and your best friend, Eiji, thinks you deserve a lot better

—Author's Note: I got out of a toxic relationship roughly 2 monthes ago and I’ve unintentionally made it a new personality trait and I think about it everyday and it came to my mind while thinking of smut ideas and someone please help me I don’t want to think about that- anyway enjoy me self projecting to the fucking extreme :)) Also I tried to make this gender netural but reader is afab and i wrote it with my ex in mind so if I accidentally called the ex a boyfriend at some point I apologize- ALSO I HAVENT WRITTEN IN FOREVER SO SORRY IF THE WRITING IS BAD

—Please keep in mind that you must be 15+ to read this piece, thank you <3

Eijirou hated this, he hated everything about it. Eijirou has had feelings for you for a couple years now, ever since middle school. He hasn’t had to see you with very many partners before, there were a couple of few month relationships with people that he didn’t particularly like but they treated you well so he wasn’t too bent out of shape over it. But this was by far his least favorite relationship of yours. You had been dating this person for about six months now and he hated everything about them. First off, he thought you were way too pretty to be with this person. In his eyes, they were a one and you were an eleven. Secondly, they treated you horribly. They said mean stuff to you, upset you, made everything about them, didn’t respect your consent, and so much more. And on top of that, they were horrible in bed. They made the most bold and most wrong movements and refused to educate theirself on your body and what you enjoyed. On top of that, there was never any aftercare whatsoever.

And it pissed Eijirou off. You were perfect to him, how come you gave this person a chance and not him and let them treat you horribly? Well one night, he had enough, Eijirou finally snapped. This was the fourth time that week that you’d texted him, saying some along the lines of “i was hanging out w/ p/n and they really upset me because…”. And that was the last straw for him, he was gonna remind you of your worth. 

Y/n: Eiji, they did it again. We were making out and it was kinda going further and they did something wrong and it hurt so I asked them to stop and they asked if I was just turned on too much-

Eiji: I’m sorry sweetheart, your partner sucks :( why don’t you facetime me?

Not even five seconds later a call was coming through and he answered it, smiling at the sight of your face.

“Hi, pretty, how’re you?” He asked, running a hand through his hair. You gave a small smile in return.

“Hi Eiji, not great.” You were laying in bed, one hand holding up your phone while you laid your head down on your arm, “I just wish they’d take the time to figure out what I like…y’know?”

“I know, love, I’m sorry they’re like that. You deserve a lot better than that, you’re gorgeous. Anyone who doesn’t wanna treat you right in bed is a total idiot.”

Your cheeks heated up a bit and you smiled at Eijirou, “Thanks, Eiji.” Eijirou was sitting up, his phone propped up on his desk, with a controller in his hands, you assumed he was playing a video game. He was wearing a tight gray shirt, it perfectly outlined his pecs and showed off how big his shoulders were. You started unintentionally staring, and who could blame you? Eijirou was hot. Even you, as his totally platonic, never gonna be anything more, best friend could see that. 

“Sweetheart? Are you even listening to me?” Eijirou asked, looking straight at you. Your cheeks heated up more and you looked away.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, I just spaced out,” you replied.

“What were you thinking about, sweetheart?”

Your next reply took a moment, you were scared to say it. This was wrong, everything about this was wrong. You were facetiming your best friend who calls you every pet name under the sun, to complain about your boyfriend, and on top of that you were thinking about how hot he was. But you were desperate.

“..you.”

Eijirou paused, making eye contact with you, “What about me, pretty?”

“...I was looking at your chest…and thinking about how you’d treat me so much better than p/n.”

The smirk that spread across his face killed you. You might as well go get a new name and move to a completely new country at this point, because you were so embarrassed. 

“Oh, you know I would, sweetheart. I bet you don’t even think about them when you two are getting into it, bet you just thinking about me, huh?” And he wasn’t exactly wrong. Sometimes you found your mind drifting to Eijirou when you were getting intimate with p/n. You didn’t mean to, it just sort of happened.

You nodded, “You’re just so pretty, Eiji, and p/n can’t make me cum…bet you could. You have pretty hands..and I’ve seen the way your fingers move on your controller.” You started subtly rubbing your thighs together, trying to relieve the feeling forming between your legs.

“I definitely could, pretty. I’d eat you out so good if I could, bet you taste amazing,” Eijirou says, setting down his controller and turning his full attention to you, “Why don’t you take off your shirt, sweetheart? I wanna see what I would have to work with.”

This, you hesitated on, more so than the other stuff. Talking was just one thing, but to show Eijirou your body would be straight up cheating, absolutely no excuses.

“Well, I don’t know..I don’t wanna cheat on p/n.., I’m just upset at him right now.”

“Come on, sweetheart, when does he ever care about your feelings? You deserve so much better than that. Just this one time, honey, I wanna show you what you could have. And I wanna see what that loser is failing to make feel good. They’re so stupid, I bet you’re super sensitive, I could make you feel so good.”

Eijirou’s sweet sweet words got to your head and soon enough you were propping your phone up, sitting on your knees, legs spread a little with nothing but an oversized shirt and short shorts on. The shorts hugged your thighs and pussy. Eijirou could see the outline and you swear he whispered “fuck” at a couple points. Slowly, you took your shirt off and Eijirou’s eyes widened. No bra.

It made sense, you were home and nobody wants to wear a bra when relaxing in their own home, but he was just a little startled. He didn’t mind though, of course. A hand drifted down to his sweatpants, palming his half-hard cock through the fabric.

“Look at you, sweetheart, you’re absolutely gorgeous. Those are the best tits I’ve ever seen, you wanna show me some more? I bet your pussy is just as pretty.”

“Mm, can I see you first, Ei? Please? Just wanna see your abs please,” you beg and Eijirou smirks a little, taking off his shirt. He was so perfect, perfectly tanned skin that was so smooth, and his muscles were gorgeous. You bit your lip, looking at his perfect body.

“Now take off your shorts, sweetheart, I wanna see,” Eijirou said, and you happily obliged. You slipped your shorts and panties off, spreading your legs a little more, “Fuck, pretty, you’re soaked. Do you have any toys there with you? I bet you’re one of those little whores who needs to play with their pussy every night before they go to sleep.”

Your cheeks heat up, “Y-yeah, I have toys…do you want me to use some..?”

“Yes, pretty, it’s no replacement for my cock or my tongue, but it’ll have to do. After all, we’re just testing this out, right? No cheating.”

You nod, “Mhm, not cheating. Just testing it out.”

“Good girl.” You reach into your bedside drawer and pull out a little box, showing Eijirou the contents on the call.

“What should I use, Ei?”

“How about you use that wand vibrator and that pink dildo? I think that’d look cute stuffed in your pussy,” Eijirou says, returning to palming himself. He was so hard for you, you were just too hot. You removed the toys from the box, putting it back and resuming your original position.

Suddenly, you were shy, you’d never done this over the phone before. You took a moment, and Eijirou didn’t rush you and eventually you mumbled, “Can I see your cock first?”

Eijirou smiled, “Of course you can, sweetheart.” He pulled his sweatpants and underwear down a little and then you saw it, your eyes widening a bit. Eijirou was huge, atleast seven inches. It was so pretty, p/n was nowhere near that size, nor was it as pretty or well kept as Eijirou’s. Eijirou ran a hand up his length, watching you, “This is all for you, sweetheart, you’re so pretty. It gets me all hard.”

“..you’re hot too, gets me all wet..”

“How about you get something in that pussy then, sweetheart? Show me how you get off after your shitty partner fails to make you cum.”

You don’t hesitate anymore before sinking down onto your dildo, not bothering with the vibrator quite yet. Eijirou kept pumping his length, watching the way your pussy swallows your toy up. After adjusting, you started bouncing on your dildo, making yourself feel good. Strings of moans left your lips, getting off on the fact that your best friend was watching you pleasure yourself. 

“Look at you go, sweetheart, you’re just so horny, huh? Not even thinking about p/n anymore, just thinking about cumming and my fat cock.”

“Fuck- yes Ei, ‘m thinking about your cock in my pussy, it’d stretch me out so so so good, d-don’t think I could take it,” you said as you reached for your vibrator, turning it on and pressing it to your clit. Eijirou stroked himself faster.

“Oh, you definitely could, pretty, I know you’d take it so good. Can already picture you creaming all over it. Shit- I’m getting close, cum with me.”

And that you did, you came around the dildo with no thoughts in your mind other than Eijirou and your orgasm. You slowly stopped, panting, and your phone buzzed. You glanced at it, at the top of the screen there was a singular notification.

My Love <3 : hey u busy?

“Mmm, that was so hot, sweetheart. Did you enjoy that?”

Y/n: yeah abt to go to bed, gn ily

“Yeah, Ei, of course I did…why don’t you come over?”

[the-breads-been-teleported]

Made some random murder drones oc. Have it whether you want to or not.

Probably gonna be named Q. Yes, she’s not wearing clothes (tho I did design them on the side), yes she has different colored hair (murder drones don’t always have bleached hair). Did not use a reference for a decent chunk. I’m absolutely terrible at perspective, hair, humanoid bodies, you name it. Tried a new way of shading, and it personally made it much better. Also, if I don’t add random drawings about the same thing and put too much effort into them, I cannot keep going for the life of me.

Looking at the OG video, it appears to be almost 52 minutes long, and that’s at max speed (which I think is x32?) Tbh like 2 minutes of that is me drawing something completely unrelated soooo idk. I think the longest previously was 22 minutes for something I abandoned, and 11 and a half for something that will never see the light of day, making this the thing I spent the most time on.

Also, a couple of variants: The outline

And a shot w/ the high contrast filter applied b/c I was checking them out

I considered adding the drawing w/out the outline, but it looks too messy for my liking so I might add it later

[mariana-oconnor]

The Red Circle pt 2

A woman in hiding, a man who uses the most long-winded communication method ever, and apparently danger.

There, dimly outlined at the top window, I could see the shadow of a head, a woman's head, gazing tensely, rigidly, out into the night, waiting with breathless suspense for the renewal of that interrupted message.

The last word you saw was 'danger' and then it was cut off mysteriously. Why are you staring out the window still? Hide! Run! Do something.

“Why, Gregson!” said my companion as he shook hands with the Scotland Yard detective. “Journeys end with lovers' meetings. What brings you here?”

Hi Gregson!

That's a strange way to greet a police officer. Okay then.

“I am on the trail of my life now, Mr. Holmes,” said he. “If I can get Gorgiano—” “What! Gorgiano of the Red Circle?”

And the title becomes clear.

“But we have no warrant for his arrest.” “He is in unoccupied premises under suspicious circumstances,” said Gregson. “That is good enough for the moment."

I don't know much about the Pinkerton agency. But I feel like when a Pinkerton is being more law abiding than you, that's probably a warning sign. Gregson. No.

Our official detectives may blunder in the matter of intelligence, but never in that of courage.

Oh fuck off. They're arresting a man with no evidence. But also - drag them, Watson.

Gregson climbed the stair to arrest this desperate murderer with the same absolutely quiet and businesslike bearing with which he would have ascended the official staircase of Scotland Yard. The Pinkerton man had tried to push past him, but Gregson had firmly elbowed him back.

"businesslike"??!

I don't think that word means what you think it means, Watson. He elbowed the guy on the stairs. What the fuck businesslike behaviour is that.

This is all nonsense.

Not that this matters, the guy's not going to be there anyway. He's dead or gone, one or the other. He was cut off in the middle of the word 'danger'. There are a lot of context clues here.

On the deal boards of the carpetless floor there was outlined a fresh track of blood.

See what I mean?

His knees were drawn up, his hands thrown out in agony, and from the centre of his broad, brown, upturned throat there projected the white haft of a knife driven blade-deep into his body.

For a second there I thought he was just injured. But no. He dead

Holmes had stepped across, had lit the candle, and was passing it backward and forward across the window-panes. Then he peered into the darkness, blew the candle out, and threw it on the floor.

Alright, if he said anything longer than maybe 3 letters, and all of those in the first third of the alphabet, I'm calling bullshit on this. Because there was not near enough of Gregson and the Pinkerton guy going 'what are you doing? Are you signalling? What are you saying?' for him to have had the time to say anything worth saying.

“Perhaps not. That is why I thought it best to summon this lady to your aid.”

The word for come in Italian starts with a V. There is no. way. The other three just stood there while Holmes flashed that candle 22 times and then some more in order to instruct the lady to come to them. Nope. No way. Also, how much of a fucking idiot is she to see "Danger Dang-" then nothing for ages, then see an instruction to leave her hiding place and come here and actually come?

She is so lucky it was Holmes sending that message. They communicated the code in the newspaper. It wasn't even a difficult code to begin with. She had very real reason to suspect that Gorgiano was in trouble and yet...

She's a muppet.

“You have killed him!” she muttered. “Oh, Dio mio, you have killed him!” Then I heard a sudden sharp intake of her breath, and she sprang into the air with a cry of joy.

So she was a prisoner? But then... that just raises more questions.

“But where, then, is Gennaro?” she asked. “He is my husband, Gennaro Lucca. I am Emilia Lucca, and we are both from New York. Where is Gennaro? He called me this moment from this window, and I ran with all my speed.”

“Your cipher was not difficult, madam. Your presence here was desirable. I knew that I had only to flash ‘Vieni’ and you would surely come.”

No, you didn't. That's 59 flashes. He did not have enough time to make 59 flashes with breaks between words. That's not a thing that happened.

Also, the only reason she came was because she's an idiot.

The beautiful Italian looked with awe at my companion.

Oh, no. She's actually an idiot. She actually thought uncoded messages in newspapers and the most rudimentary code were things that no one could possibly work out.

Wow.

OK.

"My splendid, beautiful Gennaro, who has guarded me safe from all harm, he did it, with his own strong hand he killed the monster!"

And now she's implicating her husband in a murder in front of a police officer.

"You understand, madam, that your husband will be arrested and tried for the death of the man who lies before us? What you say may be used in evidence."

Genuinely don't think she did know that. She does not strike me as a person who can handle thinking of anything more than a couple of seconds in advance.

"Gennaro was in my father's employment, and I came to love him, as any woman must."

I don't know if she means in general that any woman must come to love a man (ugh) or if she means that any woman would have come to love Gennaro (ah, the delusions of love).

"My poor Gennaro, in his wild and fiery days, when all the world seemed against him and his mind was driven half mad by the injustices of life, had joined a Neapolitan society, the Red Circle, which was allied to the old Carbonari. The oaths and secrets of this brotherhood were frightful, but once within its rule no escape was possible."

Did your dad maybe know about this before he tried to stop you marrying him? Because I feel like maybe he knew. Or maybe he was just a snob. But given your inability to have any sense of self-preservation, I feel like maybe your dad knew.

"One night his secret came out. I had awakened what he called ‘love’ within him—the love of a brute—a savage. Gennaro had not yet returned when he came. He pushed his way in, seized me in his mighty arms, hugged me in his bear's embrace, covered me with kisses, and implored me to come away with him."

"But once as I looked through my window, I saw two Italians watching the house, and I understood that in some way Gorgiano had found our retreat."

If the same thought and effort were put into covering his tracks as Gennaro put into communication methods, then I'm really not surprised.

But I guess it all ended up alright in the end.

And Holmes and Watson are going to listen to some Wagner.

Good for them.

[skibasyndrome]

Darling Simon, here are some fic writing questions! Curious about 2, 7 and/or 8, and 4/37?

Wish you a fabulous Friday!

Hey there W, thank you so much for asking me all of these! :) And I'm sorry for waiting with answering until it's not even Friday anymore ahhh, but I hope you had a good one! 💜💜💜

2: Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

Oh sooooooo many!!!!! I really wanna write some classic enemies to lovers sometime and OH okay, this is probably highly specific, but I cooked up this AU idea with @sillylittleflower once and like one of the things that me wanna write it the most is the fact that I could include a good old tending to the wounds of someone and getting very close to them in process scene in it. Scenes like that are 100/10 and I will not rest until I've been able to write at least one!!!!

7: Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

God... the way I always forget everything immediately after I post it. But hmmm, something I REALLY enjoyed writing is this in Never Letting You Go:

Him on his knees to worship Simon, to offer him everything he has. To spell his veneration out, rededicate this space, make it into a temple for them and their love. To fill the air around them with the sounds of his sweet and breathy prayer. Wilhelm nuzzles his nose along the patch of hair and smiles to himself. If anyone dares to intrude on this moment that feels so fucking holy, well, let them see.

Because listen... something about using religious imagery to write about gay stuff? Idk, that's just a personal favorite of mine. Oh and I love the entire scene that this is taken out of because it's something I hadn't planned, it just sort of came to me and I love that I was able to take this very compromising position, but then not do what's most likely expected and instead make it into this sweet little break in between the sex, idk? I love writing not-always-so-linear sex scenes in case you hadn't noticed, lol.

8: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

I've recently been trying (and really enjoying!) to write more dialogue-heavy stuff, and I had soooo much fun with EVERYTHING in Lavender Haze, but especially some of the not-so-smoot flirting:

“I uh, I don’t,” he’s stumbling over the words, still not taking his eyes off Simon. “I can’t dance, really.” “Oh, don't they teach you stuff like that at… royal school?” Simon shoots back, a challenging glint in his eyes that honest to god makes Wilhelm's knee buckle. Wilhelm winces dramatically. “Don't fucking remind me… I can give you a really unsexy waltz if that's what you want.” The laughter bubbling from Simon's throat is worth all the embarrassment Wilhelm feels at the memory of tripping over his own feet at some function. “Okay, new question: is there such a thing as a sexy waltz?” Simon asks and Wilhelm snorts. “Clumsy waltz, then?” Wilhelm tries and can’t quite fight the fluttering inside his chest at the way Simon is shaking his head at him playfully.

4: How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

Oh god... too many for someone that should focus on getting one thing out at a time. But it's also kinda cool, because back in October I thought I'd never be able to come up with an original fic idea (as in, not taking something from canon) ever again.

Okay, I counted about 11 that I have traces of in my Google docs, some of them already have a bunch of actual writing to them, some just have outlines, but I love all of them and hope to get to them at one point of the other <3

37: Talk about your current wips.

Oh my goooood, I could talk for HOURS about them, this is too much ahhhh. Well, my most current WIP is a Sequel to my beloved Lavender Haze, which has Wille dealing with the aftermath of his hook-up (and maaaaaaybe, love at first sight situation, but who's to say) with Simon. I'm having a lot of fun with including other characters for once, like Felice, her gf, Maddie, Rosh and just trying my hand at something AU for once :)

And well... my vampire AU....... beloved...... beautiful......... when will I do her the honors of finally writing that first chapter instead of literally everything that comes after!?!?!?

And then I have a bunch of other ideas that I bother @sillylittleflower with 24/7 because they don't wanna leave my head, one of them, very, veeeeeery beloved is a photography student AU, hopefully strangers to friends to lovers and very, very soft and! which is new for me! Simon POV!

Please ask me some fun fic writer asks <3

[cealesti]

Hello! May I ask you, out of pure curiosity, why you are (I’m assuming) choosing to wait until you’ve finished Arc II of with eyes like these to release the couple chapters you have finished writing for a while now? Is it to help smooth the editing process? Is it an update schedule thing? Again, *only* curious! Either way, I’m very eager for what’s to come :D

Hello! You may ask indeed, Nonnie, it's no problem!

Well, I suppose it's a matter of editing, or what I usually refer to as "my second draft phase". Basically, I want to have the entire fic written (not just the second arc, love, I'm very sorry to say) before I post again, because I feel that's the only way I'll be satisfied with this fic. Having it written out beforehand, I can read it and figure out if I need to flesh something out, if x thing is happening way too fast and needs to be spaced out, if the character dynamics are shifting too drastically or frequently, if this particular plot point even makes sense, etc etc. You know?

I didn't feel this need with the first arc (or, rather, I felt the need to write just the first arc but not the entire fic) because the first arc was more self contained and easier to handle. I thought I'd be able to do the same for the second arc, but it's turning out a tad more complex (more plot threads and planting the seeds of future events). Plus, the third arc is still very fuzzy in my mind, apart from those big plot beats.

I tried to get around this problem by following an outline more strictly, but, eh. Allowing myself to write more freely has resulted in a lot of new scenes that I hadn't thought of but which I now love. It's made me fall more in love with the story again, and I feel super excited to tackle act 3 (which is!!! almost here for me!!! screams!!!!)

Of course, the consequence of going about it like this is that I'll be following a clearer and more frequent update schedule when I go back to posting, which I'm sure will be more pleasant for everyone :p but yeah, that's not the main reason.

Hope this isn't too tedious to read, I'm a little long winded at times ;w; I'm also looking forward to sharing my little baby with you guys!! And I hope you're doing well, anon!

[radiowrites]

2023 Writer Year-In-Review

Hi, I’m RaisedonRadio & FortressofmyPast on AO3 and FF.net. This is an on-going tradition since 2015. Check out my past year-end posts: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015.

Tagging a few, but if you come across this, consider it an open tag! You’re welcome to tag me back, I’d love to read it!

@writercorianarose @shesailsships @talesofsorrowandofruin @azdesertwillow @goneahead @littlemissfandomworld @dreams-of-kalopsia @halleyuhm

Big change for me compared to last year—in addition to NaNoWriMo, I actually posted fanfics! I tried to add some new questions to this year’s edition, I hope they might even move out of my tiny circle.

Total Word Counts: 51,920 for 2023 NaNoWriMo 15,570 on 2022 NaNoWriMo project 19,193 for July 2023 Camp NaNoWriMo (mostly fanfics) 28,310 in published fanfics (this number is overlapping with camp nano, I wasn’t paying attention, so I’m not going to add everything together)

Total Number Of Completed Works: 10 Total Number of WIPS worked on this year: 10 or so How Many WIPs do you still have: 23

Looking back, did you write more than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? I wrote way more than expected! I seriously didn’t think I would do NaNoWriMo again. And I published ten fics! That’s ten more than last year!

Did you take any writing risks this year? The NaNoWriMo project was definitely a risk for me. I basically had an idea and no outline. It was quite a challenge to my perfectionism issues—I had to basically never reread anything and just keep going, fully aware that I can better foreshadow the ideas that came up halfway through in the next rewrite.

Biggest Surprise: I wrote for NaNoWriMo again, which I was pretty sure wouldn't happen lol, and hit the word count, all through discovery writing, and having very little idea where I was going with it.

Biggest Disappointment: I dropped that above mentioned project the moment November ended! I can tell it has potential, hidden in there. I will definitely return to it.

Do you have any writing goals for the new year? I’d love to at least finish the first draft of the 2023 NaNoWriMo project, bringing it to a tentative end so I can actually reread it and go from there. And keep writing fanfic, and maybe even work on the 2022 nanowrimo project…

Fanfiction Questions Below! (if you don’t write fanfiction feel free to skip or rework the questions for your original works.)

Fandoms I’ve written in this year: I wrote fics for 7 different fandoms! For the following kdramas: Island, Tale of the Nine Tailed, Memorist, Royal Secret Agent, W: Two Worlds, May I Help You?, and a little Korean Web drama called Handmade Love.

Your most popular story of the year? That would be Besides You with 327 hits and 47 kudos. However Superhero got the most comment interaction with 4!

The story that was easiest/or most fun to write: I Think He Knows was fun to write! I do just love brooding with a heart of gold formerly immortal male leads.

Hardest story to write: Rescue Me, Superhero, Restore, and Prayers & Promises were four works that I had left for dead, and came back and found them to be basically finished and just needed proofreading. (So just in case anyone wondered how I turned out three of those in like two days: they were actually done and I was hellbent on getting them out of my WIPs list)

Your sweetest story: That would definitely be Superhero. I altered my normal narrative style to better fit the child’s character, and I was really pleased with how it turned out.

Your saddest scene: I feel like I hit a lot of angst this year, but nothing really sad?

The sexiest moment you’ve written this year? *coughs* I wrote five pieces of smut. (Half of my fanfics were smut this year?!) Umm, I’m torn between Beside You and Don’t Blame Me? But also Never Be the Same and Take On Me???

Your favorite tag: (whether you use it the most or just something witty/perfect for the story) My brother announced to me that he reads all my tags (he was trying to embarrass me about one of my smut pieces) so I did a shout out to him in the next fic. He saw it within the day, I was actually impressed.

Most unintentionally telling story: (have you accidentally or purposefully exposed a detail about yourself?) Religious guilt seems to be a reoccurring tag this year. In all seriousness, not quite sure why, but yet it kinda makes sense? (its complicated lmao) And for some reason not one, but two fics ended with marriage proposals?! (I’m so single.)

Are any of your fics named after/heavily inspired by music? I’m RaisedonRadio and it would be concerning if—checks list—less than 8 of the 10 fics weren’t named after songs, haha! (I’m actually just really bad at naming fics…)

Good To You and Besides You are both songs by the band Marianas Trench, and are heavily inspired by the songs. Rescue Me is by OneRepublic, one of those more vibes than lyrics inspired. I Think He Knows by Taylor Swift was definitely on repeat for that fic, as well as Don't Blame Me. (Poems), Prayers, and Promises was more a steal the name of the song by John Denver, for some reason I think Cold by Corbyn was on repeat when writing that one. Take On Me was named more for the similarities between the MV and the series! Never Be The Same was for the vibes of the song by Camila Cabello but not really the lyrics.

What’s your own favorite story of the year? Maybe it’s cheating but I’m not sure if I can really choose? I know it’s not a common writer sentiment but I really do like them all for different reasons.

Like I churned out Good To You and Besides You within ten days of each other in July, after not writing any fanfic basically for a year and a half.

And then I pulled Rescue Me out of the dead drafts pile and made myself work on more description.

I Think He Knows was my first foray into a brand new fandom.

Don’t Blame Me is one of my rare canon divergence fics.

Restore was another dead draft that I found to be mostly complete, and decide to release into the world even if I knew there was so much more I could have done with it.

Prayers and Promises was not only another new fandom, but for some reason, I decided to write for a side character. It’s still sitting on just 1 hit and that makes it all the better that I really wrote it for myself.

Superhero was out of my comfort zone of writing for a kid’s perspective and I was so happy with how it turned out.

Take On Me was a draft sitting at less than 1k words and I challenged myself to finish it before the new year, and got it done in two days.

And then, to finish it all off with the intense desire to have ten fics under the belt for 2023, I wrote Never Be The Same in less than two days for the last drama I had watched, and the speed that the last two fics were actually finished was a huge change for me.

Fanfiction risks you took this year? I wrote fanfic for not one, but two fandoms that I had to create the first tags for on AO3! Also, as I started to slip into just writing for kdramas this year, I’ve basically become my own proofreader and editor at this point. Any mistakes are my own, lol.

My favorite part of fandom this year: That would be getting two kudos and a comment on I Think He Knows, one of the fics that is the first in its fandom tag. To actually connect with more fans of such a tiny project was so cool!

Thanks for reading and here’s to next year!

[pensbridge]

Just For Fun: My outline of episode 1 (Polin edition), but I'm not sure if I wanna post more (or finish) -

I started this awhile back and got motivated to add more after the update w/the date announcement. (it might not be completely in line after the new interview)

Season 3, Episode 1: Out of the Shadows ☆

Colin/Penelope return. We see Colin arriving home. The Featherington household is going through revisions as Portia is instructing for downsizing/majority of their stuff to be sold due to the recent financial crisis. As Colin pulls up to the family, we see 'welcome backs' & teasing exchanged. He looks on to the Featherington estate. Portia is on a quest with a new scheme/seems suspicious-ABC brothers look on in bewilderment/curiosity; C looks up and sees Pen from the window, who steps back and ignores when he waves.

Francesca debuts. (Colin questioning most of the ep). We see them back at the house; family plays catch up w/lots of set up for sibling dynamics (inc El-Colin exchanges re: her current status w/Pen & him trying to relate it to Pen's dismissal of him & a mention of the letters). also some talk about Colin's travels & an exterior look at what could be deeper to his internal change (he'll boast a lot & seemingly have found his purpose/worth). We'll get references and hints to his new 'hobby' and we'll get a shot or 2 of some things he brought back including a book (journal), while he maybe struggles with some of the intricacies of family living together after being alone on his travels.

We get Pen avoiding him at all costs [the ball is where things get awkward-Pen attempts flirting (more on that later) // she probably has some solo attempts in random moments we don't expect, where she is not actively in the position to be seeking, but tries to strike up a convo with random men].. We get the 1st confrontation in some private area after she walks off from one of her solo attempts, where Colin pops up- (Colin will be very confused, and in the dark of Pen's quest/frustration; Pen very standoffish/comes off rude to him).

Pen goes through makeover. Earlier in the episode we get Madame Delacroix interaction & foreshadowing to her physical change + LW updates & we'll see a tonal change of Pen's mission regarding it (aka girl=enraged).

Later, at the ball, we get things like small notices of Penelope's new look, Pen-Lady D. interaction, and an awkward El-Pen encounter [as well, we'll probably get onlooking disapproval from Eloise when she notices her exterior change]. Francesca probably meets John. Again, Penelope will try to flirt (this time with a man with great prestige) and somehow in her nervousness (or unknowingness, at the time to his status), she will go on to stumble through her interaction or unintentionally offend him in some way, feeling embarrassed at the witness of a group of surrounding people. So she runs off.

Meanwhile, Colin will notice a change, but be more confused than anything at her new shift/demeanor and, seemingly, personality; he spends the ball trying to speak with her again/worried if something had happened and of the correlation of her not responding to letters. (They have 1 more little encounter involving him trying to talk with her in the commotion of the ballroom, but it is interrupted by Cressida when she attempts to throw a dig at Pen, taking notice of her new wardrobe).

When he notices her run off, he follows..

They get into a tense & heightened exchange, where she admits her desire to find a husband. He is shocked and thrown off by her words, but offers to help her in his quick-thinking, desperate attempt, just hoping to get back on her good side. She instantly refuses at first, but he persists about it. She may not even accept at his first proposal due to her determination to forget him and/or the general timing at the ball with all the things going on close by them. The episode ends with a Lady Whistledown paper, setting the tone for a much darker figure with some foreshadowing of what's to come later.

[sp1derw1re]

ALSO, (infodump ahead)

Châu is supposed to be like a black cat counterpart to Honey (who is Bessem btw) when Honey is SpiderWire. (Idk much ab black cat since I'm a new spiderman fan, but) Châu just wants chaos and attention, at least, when she's in this persona. She doesn't have any motive, she doesn't need or want money, she has no family she wants to save and has hurt her friends (accidentally, but still) in this persona. She just wants Honey to notice her, to talk with her in this form and to fall in love with her

Châu is like, unhealthily obsessed with Honey and tries to find out almost everything about them. Like, her crush started when they were children, but grew so much that, her brain is just full to the brim with Honey. Kinda like marinette w adrien from mlb. Because of this, she finds out that, Honey is SpiderWire (and Honey also has a blog in that universe (it's basically a diary) where they refer to themselves as Wire, Châu figured out that the three of them are the same person)

Châu's hair is also not naturally white. She also didn't dye it. Something something, a side effect of making a deal with the God of Desire that would basically put an end to her bullying. Basically, the deal made her universally attractive, except to her love interest. Not to say that Honey doesn't think she's pretty, they're just not attracted to her. The deal also affects the way her iris looks (I don't currently have any drawings that could clearly show this, but eventually will post them) so she has like, a black rhombus(?) shaped outline on her eye

As seen above

[driflew]

i’ve decided to post what i had from that traitor phil au i was working on back in april as a oneshot, so here’s the full fic outline so i can link it at the end

tl;dr the full plot would have been that phil would start out intending to betray techno and actually turn him into the butcher army, but after the execution realize he really cares about techno and decide to swap sides, choosing to be the friend techno believed him to be all along 

phil arriving in lmanberg and killing wilbur, seeing technoblade, speaking to new lmanberg about what happened

no one really seems to know exactly what caused wil’s downward spiral, and those that saw it firsthand either dont want to talk about it or aren’t there. eventually phil talks to quackity and quackity tells him that wil’s spiral started about when techno showed up, and if they can bring techno down, they can avenge wilbur

phil going after techno in the arctic, finding him building his house. gets roped into helping him (maybe explain here why phil is acting as he is), get to know techno

see him shapeshift into human form once the house is done and realize he’s wilbur’s age

helping build the bee farm

going to the village and seeing techno would rather trade w the villagers than act out the senselessly violent character they told him about 

probably mentions that carl is his most important horse

gives phil the compass at the end of their first real meeting so phil can come back, inscribed with “Techno’s Compass” on the back, so phil starts calling him “techno”

several meetings, techno trusts phil w information such as 

only has one life 

hears voices and is trying to be less violent (hence throwing his all into his friendship w phil)

had something short written for this area

“Y’know, if you let the snow pile up a bit more, mobs’d stop spawning,” Phil says, though he doesn’t process the words until they’re already out of his mouth. He only just stops himself from straight-up slamming his hand over his mouth, though after a moment, he realizes he doesn’t regret the tip as much as he thought he might.

Technoblade, for his part, only nods.

“How deep?” Technoblade asks.

“About, uh,” Phil says, and for a second, he considers lying. He could tell Technoblade something too short, allowing mobs to spawn when his guard is lowered. He could also say too high, letting Technoblade risk freezing.

He balks at both ideas. Technoblade isn’t stupid enough to fall for either, for one, and besides, the idea of Technoblade suffering either fate feels… wrong, somehow. Something in Phil’s gut turns as he imagines the man collapsing in the snow, just feet from his own home, felled by some creeper he hadn’t thought there’d be any risk of spawning. Worse, Phil finds he hates the idea of coming to visit, only to find Technoblade’s frozen corpse half buried in the snow.

Phil’d… like to see it himself, he decides. A death message in chat just doesn’t have the same flair as hands-on revenge, even if he caused it.

“Another layer should do the trick,” Phil says, “Just don’t pile it too high. Don’t want to freeze.”

phil shares w nlm that techno only has one life. he also shares that techno is trying to live as a pacifist. he tries to argue that he believes techno may well have changed, and he’d like to get more information, but is ignored. he doesnt share about the voices

techno gives phil the friendship emerald once a stable trade is built up. emeralds mean loyalty, they cant be used for weapons or tools. they’re only used in totems. emeralds symbolize truth, which isn’t something that is lost on phil 

phil’s very aware of the emerald in his ear when he hands over Techno’s compass to the Butcher Army

he tips dream off about the upcoming execution

he helps build the stand—he stalls so that dream has time to help and makes the would-be manner of death quick and painless when asked to finish

he sends a crow off to warn techno the day of

he tells himself that with tubbo and ranboo there that techno will be able to talk to them and prove he’s changed, that techno will be able to fight them off, that it’ll all be fine

all the way up until the butcher army comes back and they have techno

resignation, steely determination, and then he looks up and sees phil and its open and honest fear. For Phil’s Sake. and lmanberg decides to try to kick techno while hes down by telling techno that phil betrayed him

i also have a bit for this

Phil hears the crowd before he sees them. Quackity, Tubbo, Fundy—he recognizes their voices easily, shouting at the top of their lungs as they come up the street. That doesn’t surprise Phil, as they’ve never been quiet.

What worries him is that they’re cheering.

A group returning from getting their asses handed to them by the Blood God wouldn’t return home cheering.

Phil steps out onto his balcony, his heart in his stomach, and that is his first mistake.

Technoblade is in chains. His head hangs low, long hair half out of the same lazy bun he’s been wearing it in for weeks, strung around his face in a curtain that cannot hide the resignation set in his jaw. He’s unarmed and without armor, dressed down to the casualwear Phil has gotten so used to seeing him in. It’s damp with sweat, though at the least, he doesn’t seem injured.

Phil’s second mistake is speaking, an almost involuntary expression of shock.

“You actually got him,” Phil says, and Technoblade’s head snaps up.  

Phil braces for rage. He braces for hatred, for the well-earned vitriol of a man betrayed. He braces for the fire that has razed nations to the ground, that has reveled in bridges aflame and smoking. He expects Techno to despise him.

What he sees is fear. Techno is terrified, but not for himself—he’s scared for Phil, of all people, even with the end of his life looming black against the night sky just a few steps away.

“Phil!” Techno calls, and he yanks on the chain, dragging Ranboo a few paces with it, “What’d they do to you?”

It burns so much worse.

techno goes Hard Into Denial. shouts that theyre all lying and they must have tortured phil or theyre trying to hurt techno more in his last moments and declares he doesnt believe them and tells phil he knows better

This Is All Very Bad For Phil’s Conscience 

phil doesnt know about the totem--even when punz hops in he has no idea, when the lever is pulled, that they’ll be able to do anything. he thinks hes going to watch techno die, and have the last thing techno says about him is ‘i believe in you wholeheartedly’ even though phil’s hand may as well have been on the lever 

techno escapes and runs away without looking back and phil decides, if it isn’t too late, that he wants to be the person techno believes he is

its also how phil sees tubbo being truly corrupted by power (esp considering tubbo shot him) and knows hes like. this is what happened to wilbur. this is what this place does to people

techno comes back for phil a few days later. nothing to find him by except gentle tapping at phil’s door and the tell-tale heat-haze shimmer of invis. no armor, unarmed, in the middle of enemy territory. its a show of trust and a blatant test. “Are you with me?”

techno’s very much looking for proof on either side. did phil betray him? is phil actually his friend? this is the big moment of truth for him. but phil’s still wearing the emerald, and he takes the hand techno offers, and against all good sense techno chooses to trust him

techno asks a little about it and phil tells him they used wilbur’s memory to make him. techno doesnt ask anything else

techno’s sort of. hes aware something is sus w phil. but he has to believe that phil is his friend, since he has no others and he really likes phil, so hes believing phil isn’t a traitor. not... a particularly healthy mindset tbh

tommy stuff, rebuilding the techno and phil friendship as techno prepares to attack lmanberg 

being able to actually talk to tommy and ask tommy about what happened to wilbur helps settle that part of phil that’s been wondering all this time

techno comes home after the green festival alone and tells phil that tommy betrayed him. this is another test, just slightly. as he tells phil there’s this slight edge of “but you wouldn’t do this to me, right? you’re not going to betray me, right?” and phil is able to like. as he comforts techno abt the betrayal hes able to assure techno who he chose. esp when the idea of destroying lmanberg comes up and phil is right behind him 

doomsday is a way for phil to declare, officially, where his loyalties lie, to completely get rid of the place that wanted to make him technoblade's enemy, to get rid of the place that drove wilbur over the edge. and techno sees phil's insistence with helping him at doomsday and hes like. ‘i never should have doubted phil, hes always been on my side’

after doomsday phil considers not telling techno. he Does Not want to talk about this sort of thing w techno but also he thinks he needs to, bc techno doesnt rlly freely share emotional needs anymore like he used to, techno cant seem to let himself start trusting ranboo, and phil cant make himself build a house on techno’s property because he feels too guilty 

techno approaches phil about the syndicate and phil comes clean. he cant in good conscience join this organization w techno as techno’s most trusted right hand if he doesnt 

its like. its earth-shattering for techno, but at the same time, techno knew all along

techno comes away with the idea that phil may have started w lmanberg, but phil chose techno, something no one else has done

[tortoisebore]

OKAY THOUGHTS AFTER READING THE NEW CHAPTER

SPOILERS CHAPTER 8 ⚠️

remus is fucking hot

was the tree asshole guy an asshole bc of a personal issue? did he know remus? was there more to it than what it seemed?(basing all of this on Peter’s comment)

remus isn’t fine is he? i’m assuming it’s something more urgent bc of the big emphasis we had on his shoulder (for dramatic purposes i hope he isn’t but he’s my bby and i love him so 🙁)

ALSO ik we barely scratched the surface on Sirius “backstory”/trauma but i was surprised at how TERRIBLE it was like i knew it was gonna be rlly bad but i wasn’t expecting it to be this HEAVY yk what i mean (MY POOR BABY I NEED REMUS TO HUG HIM FOR ME)

also i love how gentle remus is w sirius

IT’S WHAT HE DESERVES AND IT MAKES MY HEART SO HAPPY ANYWAYS THAT’S ALL

We appreciate you so much, thank you for writing this you are incredible

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

1. yes he is so hot i actually cant stand him it’s fr insane

2. the guy was just an asshole! which is frequently the case with men in collegiate sports in my experience! if he’s already a bit of a dick and he figures out that the slippery little guard he’s assigned to seems to be favoring his left shoulder, he’s probably going to do the asshole thing and go for that left shoulder side to psych him out or get him hurt enough to be pulled from the game. men are ridiculous

3. he’s not fine :( my poor baby. my precious boy. we’ll get into that a bit more in the epilogue.

4. i KNOWWW omg sirius’ backstory is a doozy. part of the reason this chapter took so long is bc i had to completely change my outline for the rest of the story bc i could not get myself to sit down and write 10-15k words of all of sirius’ trauma in detail. like i didn’t really feel great ab writing remus’ either but sirius’ chapter specifically left me w a bad feeling every time i tried to chip away at it, it was super depressing & felt deliberately mean to sit there & write all these things happening to him:( we’ll get a bit more detail in the next chapter, bc being back in new york is obviously going to bring some things up and it will be important for him to share what he’s feeling when it does, but it’ll happen in a way that lets him look back on those memories gently & with compassion for himself rather than a way that gets him stuck in his head reliving it. that’s my bby & he’s not going to feel hurt or sad or upset anymore in this fic, we’ve put him through enough

5. i ALSO love how gentle remus is w him like UFHFHFHFHFHFHF my heart. they both deserve to be handled with such patience and love and care & i’m so glad we finally got to the point in the story where they get to have that security & experience all those nice moments. they deserve it !! they’re perfect your honor !! never done a thing wrong, either of them !!

THANK U SM FOR READING THANK U FOR THIS ASK ILY ILY ILY 💘💕🫶✨💞💗💕💖💘💘✨💞

[somewhereinthepines]

question i've always pondered is if you've had any thoughts about the curator? i really love him and i was wondering what you can say about him!

oh. um. well, tbh i never thought about him in depth lol. i like him. i love how his jeers and scowl always feels like something coming from an old chess buddy. someone, who doesn’t necessarily like you (based on your choices and whatnot), but who always tries to sort of help you along the way. or….maybe, he doesn’t. it’s never fully clear what his true goals or motivations are. he does say, that he’s merely a curator of the stories, which btw is job, i’d kill for, haha. but like, we know that he’s the death, the reaper or smth close to it. so it begs the question, what sort of stories he collects then and how he decides which is worth collecting. bc let’s be real, there is no way, that he has a book for every person who ever died. it sounds like a bit of an overkill lol. then, it’s also odd how he technically allows us/entity/the player to slightly influence the events, despite them already being recorded per say. so does this mean, that each time, he actively messes with smth that has already happened and allows us to change it just bc he can? 

there is a lot of questions! and i doubt, that it would be answered. in fact, i’d rather have it remain a mystery. i really don’t dig the idea of the curator being ‘too human’ or having a backstory. the mere outline of how this whole affair is working would be enough for me, personally speaking. so, when i’m saying that i don’t think about him in depth, i mean him as, well, a character who can have smth beyond the frame, he was introduced in. i don’t have hcs for him. or invision him doing anything, but telling us how much our choice sucks lol. 

howerer, i actually really curious if they will tie up the repeating character models to the very fact, that those are the stories, that the curator tells us. the reason why i’m bringing it up is bc in until dawn, dr hill takes upon the role of the curator, but as we know, he’s personally tied to josh, and josh only. as he is the only one, who sees him. in the quarry, we met an old witch, who has a personal grudge against the hacketts. but unlike in until dawn, we met her as a player. so perhaps, we are the same entity that has those ‘tea parties’ with the curator. but then, what are we? they cannot harm us. nor can they actually influence our choice, if we don’t want them to. 

and then, there is john/dar/holmes/du’met, who are the same looking dude and all have the role of ‘misleading’ and/or present a permanent danger to the player. i love to think, that it was intentional, even if it was probably not. but if they’d make it so, then is he the devil or a demon on your shoulder, rather? esp bc the narrative itself always has a route, where one of the characters andrew/salim/charlie can be complicit with their choices. even if in tdim, it was a fake-out, but still. people can die, depending on if you’d pick their side or not. 

i guess, we’ll see how and what the new installation will bring in the future. what the second season will be about on main. and if they will give us some new info. the curator will surely be there to lay an even thicker mystery upon us, but perhaps, we will be able to figure out what exactly his role is in all of this. and why he let’s us mess with the story, if it was already ‘written’. more so, maybe we will figure out how we can influence those specific timelines and not the ones, where we can never save the protagonists (the intros and such). 

i think, that the curator is a really neat narrative tool. in many ways. and while, i know that a lot of people really adore him, i’m more into the concept of him vs supposed him. prob in the same way, how i liked that dr hill was a fragment of josh’s imagination and his personal voice-inside-the-head. and how i liked the old witch being actually dead and contacting us from someplace else. 

the thing about me is that i can make peace with ‘unknown’ in stories, if they are framed in specific ways and give just enough hints to conjure up some theories. i loved how tdim me essentially was about du’met, not the crew. and how holmes was there as throw away. like you can hc that he was possessed by the devil (in terms of the game, naturally) and that du’met is his reincarnation. or you can just be like ‘well, hector is a copycat’, which wouldn’t be usual. esp in western criminology. 

[devondespresso]

WIP Ask Game

tagged by the lovely @itsthestrangestthings and with perfect timing too! I've just finished the outline for the next arc and need to get words down

Rules

In a reblog of this post (so people can find you in the notes) or new thread (w/ rules attached) if you want to play on your own, post up to five (5) filenames of your WIPs; not titles, file names.

Post a snippet from one of them. Snippet must be words you wrote in the last 7 days. We’re posting progress here. If you haven’t made any, go make some and come back to play!

After you’ve posted, people can send you an ask with one of your file names. You must then write 3 sentences in that file. If the filename is one you can't share from (for example, an event or gift fic), write 3 sentences on it anyway, and then 3 more on another to share.

(per usual I only have my one wip, so I'll be listing scenes from my Steve Henderson AU instead of different files. I'm also listing them with the short details i remember them by because they dont really have names lol)

Scenes

The Old Office (where's dustin's dad?)

Before Bed (we try and fail to talk about important things)

Family Dinner (with a side of overthinking)

Nightmare, but worse (for the love of god just talk about things)

Breakdown in the club(house) (as in the little play fort in dustins backyard)

Snippet

(and tags below)

Most of my work in the last 7 days has been trying to figure out what has been feeling off in some of my scenes i already jotted down, then putting together the outline for my next arc, so im being pretty loose with "words in the past 7 days" Chucks of this snippet were the most I've rewritten recently, but I'm definitely sharing more than just the rewritten parts because i can (Steve and Hopper has been one of my favorite dynamics to explore, especially within the context of the hospital and Hop's background)

___

But then a nurse came in, asking if his parents had been notified of his admission. She offered to call if they hadn’t yet, but Hopper promised he would take care of it.

He stood by the wall waiting for someone to pick up on the other line while Steve sat on the side of the bed and El curled up in a guest chair nearby.  Hop stood there listening to several minutes of dialing sounds and voicemail over and over with no sign of stopping.

“If they won't pick up after 5 minutes they're not going to pick up after 10."

Hop glared over.

"Thank you, Harrington, very helpful." he grumbled but still gave up and set the phone back.

“Just tell the nurse they know and don’t worry about it.” he offered, laying back down.

“Yeah and just leave ‘em in the dark about their kid in the damn hospital.” 

“I’ll call them later.”

Hopper huffed from the other side of the room. Steve tried not to focus on it, but after too long of a silence, especially after the building frustration, he had to look over.

Hop stood silent, leaned back against the wall. A mixture of thinking and working through his frustrations.

An unnerving amount of thinking for Hop, and his expressions were harder to read than most, having his own more subtle tells Steve hadn't known him long enough to recognize.

He looked over at Steve, gathering clues or something. Steve shot a face back, asking for an explanation.

He thought for a moment, then crossed his arms and walked over to him.

“Why don’t you want anyone here?”

Steve scooted back, sat up and crossed his arms back.

“Because it’s not that big of a deal-”

“That's a load of bull.”

Steve rolled his eyes, projecting annoyance to say This is not going to go anywhere.

“I’ve already dealt with a concussion on my own before and, surprise, it was fine.”

“That’s not it.” he said slow and cold: the tone he used to shut down that argument with Mike. “Tell me why.”

“I told you!” he said, pushing down more nerves to throw that tone back at him.

"No, you haven't."

"Well, what do you want me to say!"

“The truth, Harrington!” he yelled.

Steve froze in place, holding the scowl in place, keeping his eyes glued to Hopper to hide his reaction. Hopper caught himself, sighing and looking away in a self-directed disappointment. Only after the break in tension did Steve look away, staring at the wall.

Calm down, it was an accident. He didn’t mean to.

“I just want to know the truth, kid.” he backed up a good few feet, leaning back against the wall and looking at him firmly, “Because I can’t think of anyone who’d want to be completely alone in a hospital. Let alone a kid.”

He’s not like that, he’s trying not to be. He’s stopped.

His throat was tight and he could feel tears invading his eyes.

Not here, not here, not here

“You trying to prove something?” Hop guessed, taking his silence for stubbornness. He can work with that.

Steve threw a glare at him, getting up and going to the room’s bathroom, putting a lot of effort into appearing completely steady despite the dizziness. Hopper followed.

“Kid, I'm just trying to help.” He said, putting a hand on the door to keep him from opening it.

He’s not gonna drop it. Not trusting his voice to hold, Steve ripped out his wallet and shoved over a business card. Hop took it with his free hand, confusion distracting him enough to let Steve yank the door open and slip inside.

“Harringt-”

He slammed the door right behind him with a loud thud that made his breath catch. He quickly locked it, then held his breath a moment and closed his eyes. Then he breathed out slowly, quietly, and flicked the light on. Waited to hear Hopper’s footsteps leading away from the door back towards the phone before opening his eyes again.

Finally

___

Tags

@stobinesque @fag4dykestobin @museumgiftshoperaser @sharpbutsoft @spicysix @blushweddinggowns @marvel-ous-m @alexcharmsyou

(no pressure ofc 💕💕)

[clonerightsenthusiast]

@vriskarlmarx I fumbled trying to answer your ask on mobile real bad and deleted it. OOPS. so we're doing it live

1. What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year? How did it turn out and would you do it again?

Hmmmm I did a LOT more outlining of fics this year. Even for relatively shorter ones. It helped me a lot with getting my ideas organized before writing without having to remember where I was going with something lol. It also makes fic ideas much more tangible. I think it's a habit I'll be sticking with.

3. What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer?

Bruh I'm so long-winded. 😩 I kind of knew this already but man. So many sentences that had to be rewritten bc I'd structured them in the most roundabout and awkward way possible lmao. I also realized how much fun I have writing as a social thing, chatting w friends w relevant interests about whatever I'm writing. It also kept me accountable in a way lol

7. What character(s) captured your heart?

SCOTT SUMMERS. Obviously also Kaine Parker and Ben Reilly, but it was more that they just continued to hold their room in my heart since I fell in love w them last year. But reading X-Men this year turned me into a huge Cyke fan. that's my boy who's never done anything wrong in his whole life and also has so much autism (#CyclopsWasRight). A number of other X-Men ascended to blorbo status but Scotty is the one who sparked the fic inspiration.

ty for asking ily <333

[volfoss]

Franken faceup (finally lol) under the cut :) very very long and text heavy because i had a LOT to say with the new stuff I tried :)

^ mockup :) you can see the placing of a lot of the stitches shifted slightly and that it was pretty dark makeup around the eyes! My big inspo for this was early pics of avril lavigne since I wanted to capture that vibe in the way of silly skater girl in this doll. I very much was kind of on the fence on this one, going back and forth on what I would do with the doll (which is why I um was postponing working on the head [outside of painting it] until now) but was convinced I would go with this.

I promise you I had plans to use this mockup. It just did not feel right when I *did* get around to the faceup so I went into it with my usual tactic of ehh it's fine I'll figure it out later which either goes really well or really bad from my experience. I had gotten some tips from a friend of mine who is a PHENOMENAL doll artist so was very hyped to put those into use as well!

I started with blushing the normal resin, not even touching the other colors until I had already gotten this layer sealed so there would be less color contamination (or that was the hope lol)

I just was focused on building up the pinks in the VERY yellowed resin to hopefully balance it out a little (with my experience with very yellowed dolls, this helps a lot in making the color a bit more balanced and life like instead of just. YELLOW. And with this head being from ~2006, she needed all the help she could get lol)

Next coat was the dark purple which shocker. This paint gave me even more issues lmao in the way that I struggled getting my pastels dark enough to really blush the cheeks and lips :/

Like it's there a bit but not a ton and that was ok! My lip lines kept disappearing with my sealant so I added more and more each layer.

Eventually decided that the small areas I had to blush on the teal and the light purple could be done on the same layer, so did that next

Added a bit more of the lip lines and blush around the eye area on this layer too :)

Brows were SCARY bc i was going to be trying new tactics next coat but for now, just a simple pastel outline was my goal! I was SUPER torn on how to proceed with eyeshadow (whether neutral, bright or dark) so focused on everything else (mainly getting the body blushed and getting things to look good there).

Then well. I would like to say i was just gonna do a TINY bit of watercolor to darken the purple side of the lips but then i got lost in the sauce of watercolors, adding moles, freckles, liner, and lashes with it! My favorite thing about this method of sealant (and this is a drawback to some people but to me it's a fun part) is that sometimes dust or small hairs get trapped in the sealant. And why I find this fun is that I can turn it into facial features on the doll, ie moles or scars. It's something where obviously I would prefer to NOT have it in there and I could pick it out but on this doll I wanted to gain as much skin texture as possible on each color so I let it be as messy of a sealant job as I wanted, which is why she's got the moles you see on the normal resin :)

I also used watercolors to add a bit of color where the pastels were not working well (the dark purple and teal parts of the head were giving me grief so I just got my brush wet, dipped it in my watercolors and placed it where i needed it, dabbing at it with a dry [or wet depending on what I needed] makeup sponge cut into small squares. It helped add a bit of color to the lips especially and I was very happy with how it turned out!

I am THRILLED with it so I'm letting it dry a bit and then sealant time! Honestly i do not think this faceup could have gone better :) i was NOT expecting it to go well but it came together and it feels very much like my doll announced her personality of hey. This is what I wanna look like and who am I to not follow those vibes!

Bonus pic w the eyes in (not perfectly aligned bc i didn't wanna budge the paint, I will be making them look a bit better later but I just was ready to get a pic and then put gloss on lol) :)

Also bonus bonus pic of the finished hand bc i am so so happy w it!!

^ gloss is still drying but :)

I'll post pics once it's all dry and ofc more progress as the body comes along but I'm really happy with it!